I cannot believe that the year is over!!!

Not that I'm not happy about it, I just can't believe that it has come so quickly!
I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who checked this site and kept updated on what was going on, even though I wasn't always the best at keeping it updated. I hope it was fun for you to see a little bit of my life here. Never fear, I have started another blog that will be more about my life in Alaska with Paul, so you can still check my blog every once and a while and see that I haven't kept up with posting, and all will be right with the world! :)
My new blog is paulandsarahhemry.blogspot.com
Bon Voyage!
Sarah

A Saturday Lunch

The bulk of this blog is at the bottom so read on! It's about the family that I lunched with on Saturday

Here is the waterfall in their backyard
Here is Loubna posing in her father's greeting salon (living room) where he greets all of his important guests
The woman on the right is the girls mother. She was such a great hostess, and an excellent cook
Here is the beautiful Gazebo where we ate lunch...pretty much the whole time I felt like a princess
Me and Nawal posing in the gazebo

This past weekend I had the amazing privilege of going to two of my students home. Their names are Loubna and Nawal and they are twins. Their father is the mayor of the town that we used to live in and so it was definitely a fun honor. They do a sort of teacher appreciation dinner every year and this year was no exception. We had a full spread of Moroccan food, and oh yes, there was sheep brain. I accidently got some on my plate, but luckily my girls said that I didn't have to eat it... It was such an honor and I feel so blessed to have two such wonderful students...even if it was a little bit of sucking up! :)

My Morocco Bridal Shower

Not that I EVER forget that I am getting married to the most amazing man that I know, but sometimes I just feel really removed from the whole "engagement" thing since I'm so far away. Well, my friend Victoria decided that despite the fact that I was so far away, I definitely needed a shower. However this was not a typical pots and pans shower...oh no! When in Morocco do as the Moroccans and buy lingerie! So that's what I got! A whole ton of it, but don't worry, I won't post any of those pictures! :) It was a fun night of just hanging out with the women here on campus. I got some great advice from the women who are already married with our only prerequisite being that some of the girls in the room were not getting married and we just needed to be spared the mental images! :) Anyway, It was a great night. Thank you Vic! You have been a grate travel buddy on this crazy journey God has put us on. What would I have done without you this year?

Beach Retreat!

So this is probably not the picture that you expected to see with a title about the beach, but look at these trees! Aren't they hilarious? I think they look like lego trees or something. They're branches are pointed the wrong way. These trees do relate to my weekend however, because they were right in front of the beach house that we rented for our spring retreat! It was great to get together with everyone from around Morocco and just catch up on what's been happening in their schools. We all formed such a great bond in training and sometimes I forget that and then I get around everyone again and remember, "oh yeah, I really like these people!" Anyway, it was so much fun to spend time at the beach just to relax and think about this time that I've had here. Unfortunately for you though, this is the only picture I took! I was just having too much fun at the beach I guess! :)

Let me clear something up

I've gotten some feedback about the sock- sandal combination in the last picture of me in Old Tucson. That is not something that I would usually do, so let me just set the record straight before people start worrying that I've lost all my fashion sense. I had an allergic reaction to something, my guess is the chemicals on the golf course, and my feet had hives all over them. The sun only made that worse as I found out the next day when we went hiking and my feet totally swelled up. Luckily, Paul's dad was able to get me some medicine to clear the reaction, but I still didn't want to take the chance of having them in the sun again. The problem was that I only brought sandals, so it was either wear socks with my Chaco's or with my flip-flops! I think that I made the better choice! :)

Finally, a new update!

Sorry that it has taken me so long to update this page! I have been suffering from a little jet-lag and, a problem with the internet! When the internet was working, my brain wasn't and vice-versa! Anyway, I'm back from Spring Break and it was great! It was so good to spend time with Paul on vacation and to just play! The weather in Arizona was perfect for hiking, golf, and laying by the pool. And all too soon it was time to come back to Casa. It was a rude awakening to come back and have the weather here not be as nice! Just 9 more weeks and I'll be leaving to come to the states! It's hard to believe the time has gone, but I'm a little more than excited about the next chapter of my life, so it's not really a sad realization! Anyway, you can see some pics on my picture page. I was limited to 15 which was hard out of the 70 some pictures that I took! Spring Break was definitely what the doctor ordered as far as my childrens behavior and they have been much more bearable since we've been back. I think that it might have a little to do with my attitude as well, but who can really tell! :) Anyway, thanks for bearing with my annoying last entry for so long!

Parent's Night

The two words that strike dread in every teachers heart! Well, unless you particularly enjoy strange forms of torture! :) All kidding aside, parent's night can be great! You just have to go into it with the right attitude. I've found that getting a massage right before works wonders, then you can just enjoy! My kids were performing 3 different skits, one in Arabic, one in French, and lastly one in English. Of course all they really cared about is that they didn't have to wear uniforms that night! Which unfortunately wasn't communicated clearly to me, and so half of them did wear uniforms because I thought they were suppossed too! Whoops! :)
Anyway, I have a new album on my picture page so you should check it out!
I only have 2 days left until I'm on a plane to Arizona to meet Paul for Spring Break! Happy Daylight Savings!!!!

Skydiving!

Before I actually start this post, let me just tell you that I didn't actually skydive so don't get excited! I was however at the place all day while my friends went, and I thought that the Moroccaness of it all merited a blog entry.
So, it all started when my friend Victoria decided that she wanted to go skydiving. Through some connections we found that there was actually a place and that it had a pretty good reputation. So yesterday we got up unbelievably early for a saturday and started the 2 hour drive to get there. Our friend Amine, who was driving wasn't going to skydive either, but him and I were just a long for the ride! As we were driving inland it was neat to see the "real" Morocco that you tend to forget about when you live in a city like Casablanca, and since it's spring everything was green! We finally got to the airfield where we found out that it's actually a French company which is only there for 4 months out of the year, because they travel around. So we all get out and everyone is pretty excited about going when they find out they can only go one at a time because there is only 1 tandem chute. Which means about an hour of wait time for each person, Amine goes (he decided last minute to jump) Lena goes, at this point Victoria is so freaked out I'm afraid she might hyperventilate. So we are psyching her up to jump and then the little man in the bright green jumpsuit comes and tells us in Arabic that we can't jump because it's time for lunch and everyone is going to eat. I thought Victoria was going to loose it! So after about an hour lunch break, Victoria finally gets to go! She had a good time, but her nerves were a little shot after. Then our friend Ali gets ready to suit up, but wait...here comes the mayor! Oh yes, that's right, the mayor comes which in most places would be a nice boost for the business but that's about it. Well in the middle of nowhere in Morocco when the Mayor comes it's right up there with the king. The whole town showed up, the mayor and the owner of the skydiving company both gave speeches, they gave him a tour of the facility, and you guessed it, we got delayed again. At this point it was just getting comical! Finally after arriving there at 11:30 everyone jumped and we were on the road at 6:00. Our fun little daytrip had turned into about 6 hours of wait time. But hey, I got to see the mayor! :)